Border patrol snags Limbaugh

I’ve made no secret that as I pursue a career in radio, I look to John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur as role models of sorts. But Rush Limbaugh, not so much…

Sources have confirmed to CBS4 News that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been detained at Palm Beach International Airport for the possible possession of illegal prescription drugs Monday evening.

Limbaugh was returning on a flight from the Dominican Republic when officials found the drugs, among them Viagra.

Limbaugh entered a plea deal back in April in a previous case where his charge of fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions was dropped under the condition he continue undergoing treatment for addiction.

Limbaugh had admitted to being addicted to pain killers on his radio program and had entered a rehabilitation program prior to that arrest.

I hope Limbaugh finally gets the addiction treatment he needs, and comes away with a newfound respect for human frailty. (Hat tip to Raw Story.)

it would be very interesting indeed to see what is in mr. goldstein’s medicine cabinet.
goldy…your addiction to attention and alcohol are different from this how?????
you have failed at everything you have ever attempted, and yet you attack someone who was wildly successful…and typical lib…kick him when he is down.
this is why the dems will never be in the majority again.
all your freudian slips are showing……….

Comparison of what would have happened if it were me, instead of Limbaugh:

Upon attempting to enter the United States, the Homeland Security computers would have informed the officers that I was on deferred prosecution which did not allow me to leave the United States without prior permission. Such permission would not have been granted to me, if I had asked. The computers would have shown I was on deferred prosecution for a drug-related offense, and since I was returning from a country which is a “known drug source”, the officers would conduct a full search of all the passengers and crew of the private aircraft, their luggage, the aircraft itself, and possibly a full-cavity search of me, personally.

Upon search, being found in possession of prescription drugs which were not prescribed to me, and apparantly already returning to the United States from an illegal trip abroad, I would not have been “detained” not for a few minutes while we discussed the matter. Instead, I would be “detained” for at least 48 hours, transported in handcuffs to the local lockup, while my file was placed on the desk of the local prosecutor, who will place an immediate “bail hold” on me, not allowing my release until he has time to review my file and decide if (a) I have violated the terms of my deferred prosecution (answer: yes), and (b) if I have illegally brought prescription drugs into the country which were not prescribed to me (answer: probably – charge him now, we’ll talk with his attorneys about it in a few months).

So I’ll sit in jail for about 48 hours, whereupon I will attend a bail hearing. At the hearing the prosecutor will announce to the judge that I was on deferred prosecution for a drug offense, I had left the country illegally, and I was caught returning into the country with controlled narcotics in my possession for which I did not have a prescription. My attorney will try to argue that it was only a small amount of drugs and that the doctor provided them to me, at which point the judge will cut him off and tell him to save it for the trial. The prosecutor will point out that given my previous offense and status of deferred prosecution, I should be held without bail. He will paint a picture of me as possibly a major drug trafficker, the tip of which is only now being discovered. He will point out my access to a private plane and lots of money, and since I had already left the country once illegally, I am a flight risk. The judge will agree, and post an impossibly high bail.

I will then sit in jail for the next sixteen months, awaiting trial. Because I lose my job after being gone more than a few weeks (if not for the arrest itself), I will soon have to rely upon a public prosecutor to defend me. The Public Prosecutor’s office is so underfunded that it will take months before someone can look at my file. Nobody gets around to calling the doctor to check out my story. The speedy trial rule doesn’t apply because my public defender waived it when he asked for a continuance because he hadn’t had a chance to look at the file yet.

Sixteen months later I am brought to trial in jail coveralls and shackles. The prosecutor hasn’t called the doctor, but neither has the defense attorney. In fact, neither one of them has returned the dozen or so phone calls the doctor made to them. The prosecutor has an open-and-shut case, illegal departure from the country in violation of my deferred prosecution agreement, possession of controled substances with no prescription, attempting to import controlled substances into the country with no prescription. The defense intends to put me on the stand to argue that the doctor gave me the drugs (with no other corroborating evidence). Both know it won’t work – everyone in the court room hears excuses like that every day, in multiple cases.

They strike a plea deal minutes before the trial begins – I will plead guilty to all offenses, the prosecutor will agree to request the judge to limit my sentence to the time already served waiting for trial (sixteen months). I take the deal, because otherwise (a) the prosecutor will ask for a continuance of at least six more months, and (b) I could get up to five years in prison.

Now I’m out of jail, but I can’t vote, can’t hold public office, and I am not even eligible for federally funded student loans, and I have to put that I am a convicted felon on every job application. I also have to pay a substantial sum to the government to cover their “costs of administration” and fines, which is a difficult burden if you are now out of work and trying to find a job as a convicted felon.

But that’s just what would happen if it were me. If it’s Karl Rove, then he gets “detained” for a little while at the airport, and then released, with the info forwarded to the prosecutors to act upon or ignore as they see fit. It will indeed be interesting to see how this plays out in the end.

it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup. Although ultimately they are also culpable if a crime has been committed, no one blames our soldiers for the lack of command and control they operate under. No one blames them for a governmental in institutional culture that condones and even promotes torture and other unlawful and/or unconstitutional mistreatment of Iraqi (and Afghani, and American) civilians. No one blames the soldiers for a yearlong coverup of the events in Haditha, where the Pentago even today still claims that the dead were killed by IEDs when most of the available information indicates shooting deaths.

I think the guy is pretty boring. I don’t listen to his show. He used to be funny and relevant about 10 years ago. Like most celebrities, espeically those on the air for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week 40+ weeks a year, their message gets tired and worn.

Doesn’t it just bug you liberals that this burned out relic still garners better ratings than Al Franken?

HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!! HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!

Where are all the righties talking about strict drug law enforcement? This puke piece of shit was caught red handed with a scripted drug and no script. Given the fact he’s on probation for drug abuse already, this should be a no brainer. He should be (and would be if he were anyone else) off to jail. Come on righties, talk to me about rule of law now you hypocrite sons of bitches!

Joel @1… because I’m a blogger, and writing first person is one of the joys of the genre.

(Also, I guess, because I’m kind of embarrassed to make such a lazy post. I really don’t have much else to add to it, and I don’t particularly take pleasure from his personal tragedy. But I’m pretty sure my audience will.)

He is already on his way home. You guys are pathetic. I guess it is telling that you all are ready to declare someone guilty before knowing the facts. Must be why you like Murtha so much. He already has Marines condemned as murderers, and the facts are even out yet.

So much for being the compassionate party. Isn’t it a mental condition to enjoy seeing someone else suffer?

You have to love it when the righties start screaming “innocent until proven guilty.” Where was all that shit during the non-stop attacks on Clinton. Fuck you Janet S you slimey cunt. You and yours get what they deserve and I absolutely LOVE this and WILL take pleasure in it. Your hero is a limp dick drug addict. Get used to it. Own it. Live with it!

There is no cost to the leftprogressive journalists’ litany of protest about the neo-con oppression they are forced to live under. It’s all a big free lunch to them: trash the president without ceasing and complain that freedom of expression is curtailed, call his war a lie, deny the threat of terror while refusing to publish the Danish cartoons (and call yourselves “respectful” while your at it); expose and publish all the administrations’ efforts to keep us safe and squeal about the Big-Brother state. You live in a vaccume of having it all- living in total freedom while screaming continually about total oppression. There is something vey wrong with the left.

Yes Das it’s the left’s fault that your daddy, your hero, your god, Lush Flimbaugh is a limp-dicked drug addict. It’s Clinton’s fault. It’s the New York Time’s fault. Make up any story that gets you over the fact that your guy, your number one guy, is a limp-dicked, hypocrite, a draft-dodging chickenhawk and drug addict! You must be so very proud!

The part-time Libertarian in me says so what, let freedom ring! Either somebody set him up or ICE is finally working to protect the world from all those dangerous aliens and haters with erectile dysfunction.

Janet, I strongly suspect that Rep. Murtha does *NOT* suffer from erectile dysfunction. Clinton didn’t suffer from it either, This leads me to believe that any powerful man who can’t run it up the flagpole must be harboring sinners.

MIAMI, June 26 /PRNewswire/ — Roy Black, Rush Limbaugh’s attorney, issued the following statement today in response to several inquiries by the media:
While going through routine Customs inspection of luggage at Palm Beach International Airport upon his return from an international trip, Rush Limbaugh was detained by customs agents after they noticed a non-narcotic prescription drug, which had been prescribed by Mr. Limbaugh’s treating physician but labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes. After a brief interview, Mr. Limbaugh was permitted to continue on his journey.

One more thing. Lefties and righties are worthless monikers because we’ve moved beyond party politics and into the realm of delusional versus realist. You don’t need party affiliations to see that our Iraq presence is all about propping up our falling dollar. The “last throes” of capitalism, romantic stuff like that.

The terror game is the moral equivalent of pulling wings off butterflies. What the whole show is about is protecting our currency and dying for dollars. Few on the “left” or “right” are talking about it.

In the World War, we used propaganda to make the boys accept conscription. They were made to feel ashamed if they didn’t join the army.”
So vicious was this war propaganda that even God was brought into it. With few exceptions our clergymen joined in the clamor to kill, kill, kill. To kill the Germans. God is on our side. . .it is His will that the Germans be killed.
And in Germany, the good pastors called upon the Germans to kill the allies. . .to please the same God That was part of the general propaganda, built up to make people war conscious and murder conscious.
Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die. This was the “war to end all wars.” This was the “war to make the world safe for democracy.
No one told them told them that dollars and cents were the real reason. No one mentioned to them, as they marched away, that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one told these American soldiers that they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going across might be torpedoed by submarines built with United States patents. They were just told it was to be a “glorious adventure.”

dj…….100 to 1!! FOX, RUSH and the internet will get the message out, and you libs will howl and bitch but there is nothing you can do. Air America? Stealing money from poor black kids so that Al Frankensteinberg can make 7 figures. Very “slave” like to steal from blacks. hehe, JCH

As a former Radio Program Director I assure you I can take Arbitron numbers and spin them to say whatever I want.

Limbaugh’s 20 million is the total number of possible listeners for a week. If you listen closely they actually say he reaches an audience of 20 million people every week. So does NPR but does that mean all 20 million are actually listening? Obviously not. Just because you can reach an audience with your signal doesn’t mean they’ll actually tune you in.

Just for fun I’ll give Rush the benefit of the doubt here. Let’s say his total number of listeners in a week is actually 20 million people. Very impressive again right? Not so fast. That total is what is simply the number of people who tuned him in at one point or another during a week. That means that they added up the numbers from every show for a week and the total is where they got the 20 million. So in reality all the nut jobs that listen to him every day were counted 5 times in his weekly total. It does not mean by any definition that 20 million separate people listened to his show during a week. It simply means that the same people who listen over and over were counted 5 times. Imagine if we could find a way to make our vote count 5 times. Kerry wins in a monumental landslide!

Now let’s break it down some more. Of the total listeners every day. Many of them may have only listened for 5-10 minutes or what is known as a quarter-hour. Doesn’t matter. They count towards the total. So now we have people who are listening for a few minutes being thrown into this very impressive total. They aren’t listening from 12 to 3 every day. They simply show up as a listener for at least 15 minutes. Now if you listen for only 30 seconds but you write it down in your little Arbitron diary guess what, Rush Limbaugh picks up antother quarter- hour. A person literally could have been listening by accident but they just happened to be an honest diary keeper and Rush gets their rating. Takes some of the shine off the whole thing don’t you think?

The real number you want to look at is called the AQH. That is the Average Quarter Hour. That is where you might get a better idea of how many people are actually listening to Limbaugh. And the AQH will give you the true size of his audience.

The AQH is the number of people listening during any quarter-hour of Limbaugh’s show. That’s the true audience and I promise you it’s not 20 million. Not even close. It might be 3 million and that’s pushing it. Still those are truly great numbers in Radio. Trust me, there are radio people out there who would sacrifice their family to a volcano for an AQH of 3 million. But it’s hardly the 20 million that Big Fat Rush would have you think it is.

Let’s break it down some more. Limbaugh is on about 640 stations. So let’s take the AQH rating and see where we really are in terms of audience size.

3 million actual listeners divided by 640 stations. That comes out to 4687.5 listeners per station. Obviously that isn’t how it works but that is the average number of listeners per station. Clearly a station in Cleveland will have a much larger total than one in Auburn, NY just because the markets are so different in size but you get the gist.

Since allegedly 50 million people voted for the Pretender & Thief, that means AT LEAST 60% of republicans DO NOT listen to Lush Flimbaugh. So much for the big shot. Can’t even get that limp dick up. Now we know why all his wives come over to my house at night!

HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!! HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!HA HA HA HE HE HE HO HO HO !!!

“Rush Limbaugh doesn’t learn. After all his trouble with his doctor shopping case, and his being under a deferred prosecution, he asks his doctors to put his viagra script in their name instead of his “for privacy purposes.” What will happen to him? The matter has been referred to prosecutors. Possessing drugs without a proper prescription can be a class two misdemeanor. It could revoke his deal. Any violation of the law could result in a revocation of his deal, which would mean he’d have to stand trial on the doctor shopping charge. The decision will be up to prosecutors…

We here in the Psych-Op Department pride ourselves on creating personas that distract and destabilize terrorist cells such as Horse’s Ass. However, we have come to realize that Das works much better in snooty East Coast college towns than bastions of granola such as Seattle. Here, his rhetorical strategies are not successful because he comes across as too shrill, one-dimensional, and lacking in empathy.

As a stop-gap measure, we will be increasing the coverage of our other specialists until we retool our strategy and introduce a new persona. Thank you for your patience.

25:
“Janet, how come you have all this compassion for Rush, but none for the innocent Afghans and Iraqs tortured and murdered by Americans? ”

Who are claiming is committing these alledged crimes? Our military? Are you implying that our troops are wantonly committing war crimes, or are you bringing up the same tired story of those who have already been prosecuted? Or are there Americans roaming the countryside wreaking havoc?

You piously say you support our troops. Sounds to me like you are trashing the good men and women who serve this country. What a class act.

Nope. As usual, you are confused (or, more likely, demented–you should have gotten that syphillis taken care way earlier [he he]).

The fact is Arbitron rating are only for commercial radio. Public radio is listed by the Radio Research Consortium, so someone must combine the lists to figure out total ratings for any given market. Quite unsurprisingly, public, community and college radio stations tend to lean left.

BTW: A 2005 Harris poll found that NPR was the most trusted news source in the US.

You lefties are jumping up and down for not. Remember Palm Beach was the district that tried to steal the election for Gore. We will have better insight as the week progresses and you lefties will be wiping egg of your face like you always do.

“Too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we’re not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.”
–Rush Limbaugh TV show (10/5/95)

Dude, first of all, chill. Just because someone dissents, that dissent does not make them unpatriotic. Our friend, Roger Rabbit, has eloquently posted numerous times here just how patriotic dissent actually is. He has also posted the changes brought about by liberals that have improved our country and way of life. The problem is that the Right wishes to silence criticism and resist change. They are only interested in power, not service. RightWingNuts have forgotten that the government is here to serve the people and not the other way around. There is something wrong with the Right. Something very wrong indeed.

By the way, before you post, try writing your post in Microsoft Word first. That way your lack of education won’t show when you spell VACUUM incorrectly.

You can see why the moronic right wingers want to try to change the subject here. Their hero, their daddy, the man they base their right wing religion on, is a limp dick drug addict probationer who may finally be on his way to jail. ANYTHING to change THAT subject.

By the way Rufas, sorry but Lush won’t be coming by to fuck you in the ass tonight. They took his little blue pills from him. HE HE!

Please define “neo-con oppression”. By the way, my free lunch (I am sure you mean freedom of speech) is guaranteed by the Constitution of The United States. Unless of course Republicans have their way and free speech will only apply to people who agree with the RightWingNuts.

Das, go fuck yourself in the ass sideways with your computer. When you are done remember this: This message was brought to you and protected by the Constitution of The United States.

Carl Grossman
Liberal, Progressive and Pissed off at RightWingNUts. I will NEVER vote for another Republican.

JDB, Will the Democrats again be sending Democrat trail lawyers to Florida to kick out the military votes and include the felons, the dead, and the “Upper East Side New York Jews” who vote in NY as well as Miami??

I know that repub take voter fraud seriously and the dems do not for obvious reasons. The ACVR doesnt cover everything and is primarily focused on the 2004 election. In it you will see lots of democratic voter fraud from Philly,St Louis ect. Bush won by a lot more than 3-4 million in 2004. That is a fact.

All the righties are screaming that BushCo’s illegal surveillance shouldn’t matter to “law-abiding patriotic citizens with nothing to hide”. Yeah, sure…so one of your great icons of virtue, on probation from a drug rap, is supposed to get a wink and a nod for having his doctor continue to write false prescriptions…so his adoring public won’t be burdened by the knowledge that he can’t get his little weenie to budge without chemical help? What a bunch of fucking hypocrites.

And I shudder to think what he and his whoopie pills were doing in the Dominican Republic. Sounds like Brother Neil ain’t the only perv in that crowd.

Commentby JDB— 6/26/06@ 10:56 pm [JDB, Name one!! Provide the link. You are probably too bust trashing Republican vans in Milwaukee on Election Night to respond. [Would you like the link for the DEMOCRAT criminals in Milwaukee who did commit felonies?]]

In Latin America they might have called them votantes desaparecidos, “disappeared voters.” On November 7 tens of thousands of eligible Florida voters were wrongly prevented from casting their ballots–some purged from the voter registries and others blocked from registering in the first instance. Nearly all were Democrats, nearly half of them African-American. The systematic program that disfranchised these legal voters, directed by the offices of Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris, was so quiet, subtle and intricate that if not for George W. Bush’s 500-vote eyelash margin of victory, certified by Harris, the chance of the purge’s discovery would have been vanishingly small.

Investigators confiscated the drugs, which treats erectile dysfunction, and Limbaugh was released without being charged.

The sheriff’s office plans to file a report with the state attorney’s office. Miller said it could be a second-degree misdemeanor violation.

Limbaugh reached a deal last month with prosecutors who had accused the conservative talk-show host of illegally deceiving multiple doctors to receive overlapping painkiller prescriptions. Under the deal, the charge, commonly referred to as “doctor shopping,” would be dismissed after 18 months if he continues to submit to random drug tests and treatment for his acknowledged addiction to painkillers.

I wonder if the ACVR ever applauded the conviction of the GOP official who sabotaged the democrat phone banks the same as they did the convictions of four stupid vandals who slashed some tires in Milwaukee?

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